2nd brother charged with murdering Randolph girl

Younger boy originally had been accused of helping dispose of her body

Authorities yesterday charged a 15-year-old boy with murdering a Randolph girl alongside his older brother, after a friend involved in an attempted cover-up of the slaying implicated him.

Initially charged with helping his 18-year-old brother, Jonathan, in his attempt to dispose of 16-year-old Jennifer Parks' dismembered body, the younger Zarate now is accused of committing the July 30 murder with his brother in their father's home, Assistant Morris County Prosecutor Ralph Amirata said.

The new charge stemmed from a statement given by a 16-year-old Clifton boy, whom the Zarates allegedly recruited to help dump a trunk containing Parks' remains off a Rutherford bridge.

The Clifton boy, who was released from detention last month after he admitted his role in the crime, told police the younger Zarate told him he and his brother killed Parks and cut off her legs.

The prosecutor's office now will try to have the younger Zarate tried as an adult, but it will be up to a Family Court judge to decide whether that will happen. If the defense can argue successfully that the boy could be rehabilitated by age 19, the case would remain in juvenile court.

Parks' mother, Laurie, glared at the younger Zarate as he entered a courtroom yesterday. She said she suspected all along that he was involved in the July 30 slaying, and that the murder charge was warranted.

"I'm glad it happened," she said of the charge.

When he lived next to the Parkses, the younger Zarate used to pick on Jennifer to the point that three years ago Laurie Parks complained to Randolph school officials. He was pulled out of the three seventh-grade classes they shared, she said.

Before the end of that school year, the younger Zarate threw a rock at Laurie Parks' car, and she pressed charges. The boy agreed to live with his mother in Garfield, resolving the case, Laurie Parks said.

The Clifton boy told police that it was that incident that prompted the killing, said Joseph Ferrante, the younger Zarate's defense attorney.

Ferrante said the Clifton boy made up the story to get out of trouble, and that it contradicts two prior statements he gave hours after he and the Zarates were arrested.

When police first questioned him, the Clifton boy said he knew nothing about a slaying, Ferrante said. But later that afternoon, he said the first statement was a lie, and said Jonathan Zarate told him he had killed and dismembered a girl, according to the second statement.

"This kid would say anything to get out of jail," Ferrante said. "This kid's already admitted to being a liar."

Ferrante accused the prosecutor's office of trumping up charges to get his client's case transferred to adult court, and to sway a grand jury to seek the death penalty for Jonathan Zarate.

But Amirata said his office has "evidence that corroborates the statement." He would not be more specific.

Until now, authorities have said Jonathan Zarate killed Parks after inviting her over to his home in the early hours of July 30.

Jonathan Zarate told police he beat her with a metal pole, stabbed her in the throat with a knife and stuffed a bandanna down her throat to keep her quiet, authorities said. He then cut off her legs to fit her body into a trunk, they said.

Together, the Zarate brothers put the trunk and a bag containing her legs in the back of their father's Jeep Grand Cherokee. It remained there about 24 hours before the failed attempt to dispose of the body, authorities said. In the meantime, the Zarate brothers attended two parties, authorities said.

Laurie Parks said she learned after her daughter's slaying that Jennifer had a crush on Jonathan Zarate, and that she had been sneaking over to his house next door.

Asked if the Clifton boy's plea deal hinged on his latest statement, Amirata said, "I don't think it would be fair to say that it was a tit-for-tat situation."

The exact terms of his plea deal were not revealed, but Amirata confirmed that he might not face more time in detention, depending on his cooperation. He spent 3 1/2 months behind bars. He and the younger Zarate were charged with unlawfully disturbing human remains, conspiracy and hindering the apprehension of another.

Neighbor Russ Sieb was not surprised by the new charge.

"All along I thought he was more involved. This kid harassed her in school, harassed her on the bus. . . . I'm glad he was charged."

Jonathan Zarate, meanwhile, was transferred Friday to a maximum-security state psychiatric hospital in Ewing, after his third run-in with guards at the Morris County Jail. His attorney says he suffers from mental illness.